WEEK OF OCTOBER 24, 2024
VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 46
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Election officials push back at Ganahl’s ‘reckless’ claims of voting security issues BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Less than a month out from Election Day, current and former local election officials met in Douglas County to contest claims of voting security problems after a barrage of allegations raised by Colorado’s 2022 Republican candidate for governor, Heidi Ganahl. Ganahl’s effort to push those claims is “a reckless attempt for attention,” said Matt Crane, a Republican who is a former Arapahoe County clerk and recorder. Clerks act as the top election officials for their counties, and the Douglas and Boulder clerks showed up alongside Crane to speak in Highlands Ranch about voting security following Ganahl’s bevy of claims that partly focused on Douglas County. The former candidate said the voting system could be exposed to unauthorized remote access, but clerks disputed that concern. “Our officials have been patting us on the head, telling us everything is fine; everything is not fine, and how would they even know?” Ganahl said in a recent post on the Rocky Mountain Voice, a conservative outlet that she founded. At the news conference, two weeks after Ganahl took aim at Douglas County, the local clerk announced a new effort to ensure confidence in the election system. “Douglas County will be providing a live stream of the surveillance (feed) at each of our 21 drop boxes throughout this election,” Douglas Clerk Sheri Davis said. The public can view the 24/7 live stream of the video surveillance via the drop box locations page on the county website at douglasvotes.com. “And remember, elections are run by people from right in your own community who make sure the process is secure and that your vote counts,” Davis, a Republican, said in a statement after the news conference. Clerks began mailing ballots on Oct. 11 to registered voters for the November election. Overseas and military voters’ ballots were sent out by Sept. 21, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. Here’s a look at what clerks had to say about Ganahl’s claims. ‘Unauthorized access’ concerns
Voters who follow the news may be familiar with the question of whether voting systems can be hacked or misused via the internet. SEE CLERKS, P6
SCHOOL OF CHOICE Special pull-out section
Republican Rep. Lisa Frizell, left, who currently represents House District 45, and Libertarian Caryn Ann Harlos are running for Senate DisCOURTESY OF CANDIDATES trict 2 this November.
Senate District 2 candidates discuss affordability, housing and immigration BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Castle Rock state Rep. Lisa Frizell is hoping to transition to representing District 2 in the state Senate, but she will first face challengers Jennifer Brady and Caryn Ann Harlos. Senate District 2, which includes Parker and Castle Rock, is currently represented by Republican Sen. Jim Smallwood, who is term-limited. Frizell, a Republican, currently represents House District 45, which includes Castle Rock, and previously served as the Douglas County Assessor. Brady, a Democrat, worked for the Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Services, as well as served in the Ohio House of Representatives in 2007 and 2008. Harlos, a Libertarian, is the secretary of the Libertarian National Committee and a paralegal. As of September, which was the latest data available, voters in the district were 16% Democrat, 33% Republican and 49% unaffiliated. The Douglas County News-Press spoke with Frizell and Harlos about their campaigns. Brady was unavailable for an interview. Frizell said she is running to carry
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forward the legacy Smallwood leaves behind and continue her work on tax policy, such as providing property tax relief. As a senator, Frizell said her top priorities would be tax relief, consumer protections and improving public safety. “Republicans have a hard time having specific agenda items because of our minority status, and we find ourselves working against bad legislation more than working for causes,” Frizell said. Harlos said she is running to shrink the government and her focus would be on reducing taxes wherever possible and getting rid of regulations that don’t protect safety or property rights. “My answer to almost everything is to reduce government intrusion in our lives,” Harlos said. When it comes to lowering the cost of living, Frizell said she would like to protect consumers from regulations that add costs. She pointed to a bill she passed this year, HB24-1149, which aims to stop health insurance companies from using prior authorization to deny coverage, which can increase costs. She also would support efforts to add affordable and entry-level housing to the market, such as by repealing
the construction defect law, which has limited the building of certain types of housing. “If we could start building multi-family, for-sale housing, we can get people who are perfectly capable of purchasing a condo or a townhouse out of (rental) apartments to free up supply,” Frizell said. Harlos said her approach to tackling high costs would include deregulation, lowering taxes and supporting zoning changes that allow for more housing to be built. “I don’t believe in any taxation, so I’ll take any reduction I can get,” Harlos said. “The free market is a really magical thing because if you let people alone and you remove restrictions that don’t prevent harm … the economy will take care of itself.” Douglas County is on the forefront of trying to steer immigration legislation, including suing the state over laws that limit law enforcement in how they can work with federal immigration agencies. Frizell said she supports repealing the laws to allow law enforcement to work with immigration officers and SEE SD2 RACE, P16
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